Thank you so much for taking part in our two-week Build your Garden Event May 18th and 25th. There will be many happy gardens and hopefully some incredible bounty from all the seeds, seedling and plants bought at the event.

This week marks the start of our full season in which our regular rotation of vendors will begin. We know you have been waiting patiently for that bread, the grass-fed beef, farm fresh eggs, fresh greens and more!

To celebrate our grand opening we will have a Hoop Jam with Amy from Hopper Sonic! So bring your hoops (along with your reusable bags and grocery list!).

And as always thanks to the coordination skills of Warner Clarke, Kristin Lindell and Alex Rochon-Terry we will have music - it goes so well with food and friends and this week we welcome:Alyssa Polan- 3-5pm​Fold -Landon Walton 5-6pmTyler Babao 6-7pm

#wesupportstartups!

Our market proudly supports start-up or entry point vendors. What does this mean? Well, many markets in the city have very little turnover in vendors making it hard for new farms and prepared food vendors to get a start at farmers’ markets. Farmers’ markets are the perfect incubator for new local food and agricultural businesses, providing opportunities to not only sell products but to learn about customers’ needs and let that feed into product development. This year, Seema Pabarii has joined the market as entrepreneur in residence; working with new food vendors to maximize the farmers' market venue, while helping them strategically scale and grow their businesses beyond the market. Seema won't be selling at the market as her Tiffinday business has graduated to larger scale distribution.

We have had a few startups graduate from our market and a few that are still with us. We clearly remember the day when Jess and Fumi from Abokichi arrived with their pop-up table and an umbrella to sell their Onigiri. They learned about market tents and tables, public health regulations, and most importantly they learned about their customers and their product. They launched Okazu, our favourite and their best selling condiment at market. They had three successful years with the market and we even helped them launch Onigiri making classes! Now, they own a successful storefront in the Annex, The Abokichi Onigiri Cafe, and are successfully selling their Onigiri through their website. Chris from Cedarhedge, is one of the newest Farms in the circuit and deserves accolades for his commitment to the environment and off-the-grid farming techniques. He is a growing farm and we have loved learning about his journey over the last few years. The market is a critical income stream for a farm in it’s early stages yet also a platform for building his wonderful farm brand.

So think about it...YOU are an investor. YOU impact local food growth and YOU should proud! So come on out the market and shop and talk and support all these amazing vendors. ​

Stay tuned for our "where are they now" feature to learn about what some of our much loved and missed vendors are doing now.

Gardening in the Hood

Let’s get to gardening. Hopefully at this point you’ve been able to plant your seedlings! Now, you should also add in some sort of organic fertilizer. Wormcastins are a helpful addition to the soil during the beginning stages of your plants growth. Wormcastings are a fancy name for worm poop and normally are created from a tropical variety of worms called red wrigglers. You can purchase these worms from all sorts of places, including Evergreen Brickworks or even Kijiji.

You can produce worm castings yourself by creating a worm bin. I have one in my home and it works well. First, you take a small plastic bin and drill holes in the sides and the bottom. Second, you fill the bin with damp shredded paper. Third, add in food scraps for your worms; do not include citrus, meat or dairy products. Finally, add in your worms! Make sure to feed them with food scraps every few days and keep their environment nice and damp. Then watch them multiply and produce nutrient rich worm poop that you can extract for use in your garden. You can simply place the castings around your seedlings, or you can inoculate your soil with worm casting tea (worm castings mixed with water).

Worm castings are an easy, environmentally friendly and low maintenance way to keep your plants healthy. Beaches Homegrown will be selling them on our opening day this Wednesday, if you want to try them out and witness their strength in your garden!

Market Community

Fairmount Market Running ClubJoin Dr. Sarah King ND with Upper Beach Health & Wellness at the Fairmount Park Farmer’s Market for a Summer of Running for Beginners! We are happy to offer two 6-week programs for FREE plus a $30.00 consultation credit with UPHW.

Running for Beginners 1: June 15 to July 20th, 2016Sessions will include a short informational talk and a guided warm-up. Runs will be about 20 minutes of intervals (2-3km) and end with an awesome yoga routine in the park.

Running for Beginners II: July 27th to August 31st, 2016For the slightly more experienced or “recreation” runner, runs will be about 4-6km run with longer running intervals than in Running for Beginners I. We will finish at the park with a guided Yoga for Runners routine.

Held Wednesday evenings from 5:30pm-6:30pm, giving you enough time to shop the market or pick up a post run snack!